Boston Scientific spent $490,000 lobbying in 3Q

WASHINGTON (Lobbying Activist) — Medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. spent $490,000 in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on the recently passed health reform law as well as other health care-related matters.

The Natick, Mass.-based company's lobbying budget was up slightly from the $480,000 it spent in the second quarter and the prior-year period.

Boston Scientific lobbied on details of the health care bill signed into law in March, which calls on medical device makers to pay between $2 billion and $3 billion in fees per year to fund the expansion of health care coverage. The implementation of some items is still being worked out.

While industry executives have complained about the fees, Democratic lawmakers say that device companies will benefit from health care reform as more patients are eligible to get their products.

Boston Scientific also lobbied on a provision that requires drug and medical device manufacturers to disclose gifts given to physicians by their salespeople. The legislation aims to curb corporate influence over medicine.

Boston Scientific, which makes heart-pacing devices and surgical implants, also lobbied on bills that would task a federally-sponsored panel with comparing the effectiveness of different drugs, devices and medical procedures. The effort aims to cut wasteful spending on ineffective treatments. The medical device industry and others have maintained that any government assessments should not be used to deny coverage of expensive medical technology.

Company representatives also lobbied on corporate taxation and labor issues.

Along with Congress, the company lobbied the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies, according to a form filed Oct. 18 with the House clerk's office.

(source:bloomberg.com)

Luke Johnson: BBC has too much lobbying power

Luke Johnson: described a merger between Channel 4 and Five as 'madness'. Photograph: David Levene


The recently departed Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson has hit out at the BBC's lobbying muscle, likening the corporation and its defenders to "Doctor Who and the Daleks joining forces to destroy the ultimate enemy".

Writing in today's MediaGuardian just a week after leaving the broadcaster, Johnson said he regretted the effort Channel 4 had expended trying to persuade the BBC to give up some of its licence fee money to other public service broadcasters.

"I failed to properly understand that the BBC is the single most influential lobbying organisation in Britain," he said.

"Whether it is backbench MPs on BBC local radio, print journalists on its payroll, ministers on the Today programme, tickets to the Proms or Wimbledon or Glastonbury, when its £3.5bn 'jacuzzi of cash' is threatened, the entire machine dedicates itself to seeing off any rival – rather like Doctor Who and the Daleks joining forces to destroy the ultimate enemy.

"The favours are gently called in, the army of public affairs staff get to work, and self-preservation on steroids kicks in."

Johnson also said the BBC had lost its nerve – unlike Channel 4 – and was now being "asphyxiated" by bureaucracy and political correctness.

There is no love lost between Johnson and the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, who defected from Channel 4 to go back to the corporation in 2004 soon after Johnson had started as chairman, despite giving assurances that he would stay put.

Pointedly, he branded the idea of Channel 4 merging with Channel Five – a plan first mooted by Thompson while he was Channel 4's chief executive – as "madness".

"If it gets revived then it should only be consummated if Five can be bought for £1," Johnson said. "Otherwise the deal provides poor value to the taxpayer and isn't a long-term solution to the structural issues facing terrestrial networks like C4."

In his review of his six years at Channel 4, he made no reference to Andy Duncan, whom he hired to replace Thompson as chief executive.

The two men are understood to have had a difficult relationship. Duncan left Channel 4 in November.

By contrast, he praised Duncan's newly appointed successor, the UKTV chief executive David Abraham, describing him as "impressive".

Source:guardian.co.uk/